Essence of Vajrayana. Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
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objects.
By offering them every day,
Their wishes will be fulfilled.
This verse teaches the mandala offering. Although it explicitly mentions only seven points, implicitly it refers to the full thirty-seven-point mandala.
It is important for practitioners to obtain a traditional mandala set, which consists of a base, three rings and a top jewel. The base and rings are used to support heaps of rice, or some other grain, which represent the various features of the mandala. Such simple things may seem useless to those who do not know their significance, but they can be very valuable in the hands of a practitioner who knows how to use them to accumulate a vast collection of merit.
To construct the thirty-seven-point mandala, we first take a little rice in our left hand and hold the mandala base with that hand. With our right hand we scoop up more rice and sprinkle a little onto the base. With the inside of our right wrist we rub the base three times clockwise, which symbolizes purification of the universal ground. As a result all rocky and uneven ground becomes smooth and level, and all our delusions are purified. We then rub the base three times counter-clockwise and imagine that all the blessings of the body, speech and mind of all the Buddhas gather into us. We think that the whole ground has been blessed and we recite the mantra for blessing the ground: OM VAJRA BHUMI AH HUM. We then sprinkle the rice that remains in our right hand onto the base and visualize the ground throughout the entire universe transforms into a pure golden ground.
While reciting OM VAJRA REKHE AH HUM we now put the largest ring on the base and, in a clockwise direction, pour a ring of rice inside it to symbolize the precious iron fence. We then place a heap of rice in the centre of the ring to symbolize Mount Meru, visualizing it as a huge mountain made of precious jewels. We then place another heap of rice in the east, the part of the mandala base nearest to us, to symbolize the eastern continent. Proceeding clockwise around the ring, we place heaps of rice in the three remaining cardinal directions to symbolize the southern, western and northern continents.
We then place eight small heaps of rice to symbolize the eight sub-continents. Beginning with the eastern continent and proceeding in a clockwise direction, we place one heap a little to the left and one a little to the right of each continent.
We then place four small heaps of rice inside the eastern, southern, western and northern continents to symbolize respectively the mountain of jewels, the wish-granting tree, the wish-granting cow and the unsown harvest. We imagine that there are countless continents and sub-continents, each possessing their own special wealth of resources and riches.
We now put the second ring on top of the rice and place a heap of rice clockwise in each of the cardinal directions – east, south, west and north – to symbolize respectively the precious wheel, the precious jewel, the precious queen and the precious minister. We then place a heap of rice clockwise in each of the intermediate directions – south-east, south-west, north-west and north-east – to symbolize respectively the precious elephant, the precious supreme horse, the precious general and the great treasure vase. We imagine countless numbers of each of these filling all of space. Again we place heaps of rice clockwise in each of the four cardinal directions – east, south, west and north – to symbolize the goddess of beauty, the goddess of garlands, the goddess of song and the goddess of dance; and then clockwise in each of the four intermediate directions – south-east, south-west, north-west and north-east – to symbolize the goddess of flowers, the goddess of incense, the goddess of light and the goddess of scent. We imagine that there are countless offering gods and goddesses filling space.
We now put the third ring on top of the rice and place a heap of rice in the east for the sun, one in the west for the moon, one in the south for the precious umbrella, and one in the north for the banner of victory. We imagine that all of space is filled with innumerable precious objects.
As we place the top jewel, which is the last thing we place on the mandala, we imagine an abundance of other precious jewels and resources enjoyed by both humans and gods. In the space above Mount Meru are the environments of the desire realm gods and above these are the form realms. These god realms transform into Pure Lands and the enjoyments of the gods become pure enjoyments.
Having constructed the mandala, we take a little rice in our right hand and hold the base with both hands. We imagine that all the innumerable world systems and everything contained within them have completely transformed into Pure Lands and pure enjoyments. We imagine that all these are present on the base in our hands, and yet the base does not increase in size and the universe does not become smaller. Just as a mirror can reflect huge mountains, or a small television screen can show images of entire cities, so we imagine that the mandala in our hands contains the entire universe. We concentrate single-pointedly on these countless pure worlds, enjoyments and beings, and with firm faith offer them all to our Gurus and the Buddhas.
While we construct this mandala, we recite the offering prayer from the sadhana. When we have recited the long mandala offering prayer we can continue, while still holding the base, to offer the twenty-three-point mandala. We do not need to construct a new mandala because the twenty-three precious objects are included among the precious objects of the thirty-seven-point mandala. The twenty-three precious objects are: Mount Meru, the four continents, the eight sub-continents, the seven precious objects (from the precious wheel up to the precious general), the treasure vase, the sun and the moon.
To offer the twenty-three-point mandala, we recite the verse from the sadhana:
O Treasure of Compassion, my Refuge and Protector,
I offer you the mountain, continents, precious objects, treasure vase, sun and moon,
Which have arisen from my aggregates, sources and elements
As aspects of the exalted wisdom of spontaneous bliss and emptiness.
With this verse we make outer, inner, secret and thatness mandala offerings. We offer the outer mandala by visualizing the mountain, continents, precious objects, treasure vase, sun and moon. We offer the inner mandala by mentally transforming our aggregates and elements into the form of the outer mandala. We offer the secret and thatness mandalas by imagining that our mind of indivisible bliss and emptiness transforms into the mandala. From the point of view of its having the nature of great bliss, the mandala is the secret mandala, and from the point of view of its being a manifestation of emptiness, it is the thatness mandala. If we wish to collect twenty-three-point mandalas as one of the great preliminary guides, we can construct them using the base, with or without the rings, and recite this verse.
Offering the mandala is the best method for freeing ourself from future poverty and for creating the cause of rebirth in a Buddha’s Pure Land. By making mandala offerings we lessen our attachment to worldly enjoyments and possessions and accumulate a vast collection of merit. As a result we experience a gradual increase of our enjoyments, wealth, and good conditions. Our temporary wishes are fulfilled and finally we will attain our ultimate goal, full enlightenment. If we wish to experience these benefits, we should familiarize ourself with the practice of offering the mandala.
Je Tsongkhapa was an enlightened being who did not need to accumulate merit, but to show a good example to other practitioners he offered a million mandalas during one of his long retreats in the south of central Tibet, in the cave called Ölga Chölung. For a base he used a flat stone, and through offering so many mandalas he rubbed the inside of his wrist until it was raw and bleeding.
If we are strongly attached to someone or something, we can imagine the object of our attachment on the mandala base, transform it into a pure object, and then offer it while praying, ‘May I be free from all attachment.’ In a similar way we can offer all the objects of our ignorance, anger, jealousy, pride, and so forth. While reciting the verse from the sadhana, we can offer all the objects of our delusions and pray to be free from those delusions.
To make mandala offerings as one of the great preliminary guides, we collect a hundred thousand mandala offerings. At the beginning of each session we offer a thirty-seven-point mandala, and we then collect seven-point mandalas. To construct and count seven-point mandala offerings we place a loosely threaded mala over the fingers of our left hand, take some rice in that hand, and then